Star Fox X
by The Redactor
Summary: When they intercept a distress signal of unknown origin, Fox and Falco are tempted to investigate. At the same time, Samus Aran shows up at the scene, but her reasons are unknown as to why she's this far out. What they find at the source of this distress signal will bring light to an evil that was thought to have been long extinguished. After Fusion and bad ending of SF: Command.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 **DISCLAIMER: The following is a non-profit, fanfiction crossover that is in no way affiliated with Nintendo Co. Ltd. The Star Fox, Metroid, and Super Smash Bros. intellectual properties are owned by Nintendo.**

My name is Fox McCloud. I'm a G-Zero racer pilot. In the past, I used to be the leader of an elite team of mercenary fighter pilots that worked for the Cornerian military back in the war time that plagued the Lylat system. The work I did then is what I'm most known for in these parts...But those days are just a faded memory now. Star Fox was disbanded several years ago after I retired my position as team captain. I was going through some serious stuff that I'd rather not get into right now, and it was for the best that I let it go. I'd like to think that my past is all behind me but, I still catch myself every now and then thinking about how things used to be...how I wanted...things to go differently than they had. I guess some things you can never be rid of for good.

"You okay, Fox? You're drifting."

I was torn from my reminiscing by the voice of my best friend and partner, Falco Lombardi, sounding in my ear piece.

Sitting up, I re-oriented my Arwing, "I'm fine." I responded, maybe a little to gruffly, "Just tired, that's all."

"...Alright."

I decided to change the subject before this conversation got to where I knew it was headed,

"So, how'd you like the games this year?" I asked him.

We were flying home from the 5th annual Super Smash Games, where people from all over the cosmos come to test their mettle against each other in competitive fight arenas, or just to use as an excuse to meet up with old or unavailable friends.

"It was fine, I guess." Falco replied, sounding like he was just a little upset behind his words at the mention of the games. He had gotten a little cocky and ended up suffering a few embarrassing defeats to Kirby and that one dog and its duck friend...I forget their names."Seemed a little dead this year, don't you think?" I asked.

"Yeah, now that I think of it. Yeah."

"I wonder why there were so many no-shows..." I wondered. A few chief competitors never showed up this year. Namely the Mario brothers, that Snake guy, and Samus are the ones I can remember off the top of my head. I, personally, was a bit disappointed that I didn't get the chance to battle Samus this year, she is an admirably challenging foe to face there.

Samus, from what I hear mainly, is a well known intergalactic bounty hunter. She's apparently known for taking on the impossible missions which had earned her the title of "Galactic Savior". These are just little bits I hear about her though. The truth behind her is shrouded in mystery to me. In the few times that I've talked to her, I ended up having more questions than answers. She's not the most social person you'd meet.

"That's probably a question we'll never get the answer to." Falco said just as we rounded an asteroid and our destination came into view. The Great Fox, well the Great Fox 2. My father's original ship had been destroyed years ago, this is a rebuilt version of it that I paid for with my race winnings. However, it isn't the same fleet and hardy battle ship as it's predecessor was, it's only a civilian class cruiser.

I switched open a comms channel and hailed the ship, "R.O.B.? it's Fox and Falco, we're back." I said simply before switching my side to receive to hear the response.

"Affirmative." R.O.B.'s plain voice spoke, "Docking bay is open and prepped for landing. Welcome back." he said before the channel was closed. As if on cue, the doors to the docking bay slid open, allowing us to enter and land our crafts.

"Home, sweet home." I heard Falco mutter as I hopped out of my cockpit, my boots slamming onto the metal floor of the bay. The ship felt bigger now that it was just me and Falco. Slippy—the old team's mechanic—is still with us sorta, but right now he's visiting family along with his fiancé Amanda. Katt stops by every once in a while to "check in" but I'm fairly certain it's just because she wants to see Falco.

I took off my head piece and hung it up in my locker, "It's nice to be back, yeah." I said slowly.

"So, where're we gonna go now?" Falco asked me, shutting his own locker and facing me.

"I don't know. We don't have to be anywhere until next month. Until then, I guess we have a bit of down time." I told him, "I'm probably gonna plot a course back to Papetoon is what I'm thinking."

He nodded, "Hm, alright. That's fine with me." He said, "I'mma grab a bite to eat at the rec room before I hit the bridge. You want anything while I'm there?"

"Nah, I'm not hungry." I replied, waving my hand a little.

"Well, catch ya later." He said before moving off down the corridor.

* * *

I was up on the bridge, tooling around on my computer, nothing really noteworthy. I had told R.O.B. to set a course for Papetoon, so the ship was poking along towards there.

The door to the bridge slid open, and Falco walked in, "Hey." he said, moving to sit down in front of the opps station, snacking on a small bag of chips.

"Hey." I replied, blinking and rubbing my eyes, "Were you having some kind of drawn out dining? You were down there for a while." I remarked.

"Well I also got caught up in the arcade games down there too."

"Mm." I nodded, standing up now, "I'm gonna go get some sleep." I told him, "Tired."

"M'kay. I think I can manage things up here for now." Falco assured me.

I nodded and left the bridge to head for my quarters. Once I got there, I collapsed on my bed, not bothering to take anything off or get under the covers, was too worn out for that by then. I just shifted a bit, draping my arm over my face and just like that, I was out.

* * *

There was a loud beep that assaulted my ears and wrestled me out of my sleep. Grumbling slightly as I took my arm away from my face to look around, spotting the source as it beeped again: The computer across the room. Sitting up, I slowly went over to sit in front of it. There was a request from the bridge to talk to me. Something must have come up.

Opening the channel, I yawned before speaking, "Mm, yeah? What...what's up?" I said, still groggy.

"R.O.B.'s picked up a distress signal. Thought I might tell you before we do anything." Falco's voice came up.

I opened my eyes at the mention of that, "Do we know who it's coming from?"

"Nah, it's origin is unidentifiable. Doesn't match anything in particular, just a universal signal. It's a little ways off our course."

Now I was more intrigued, "Well...somebody might need help." I said, "We should have a look."

"Is that what we're supposed to do still?"

"Of course it is. It could just be someone who ran out of fuel or something."

"Yeah, I see the point. I'll tell R.O.B. Are you gonna come up here?" He asked.

"Yes. I'll be right there." I told him before cutting the channel and standing up, stretching a bit, "Someone might need help." those words echoed in my mind, "And whatever it is they need help with has called us to take action..."


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: I realized that the first chapter was pretty short. I'll have to work at trying to find more to write in the future. Please review if you can. I'm fairly new to all of this so I would appreciate any advice or criticism you can offer so that I may have some things to improve upon. Also, if someone would like to help me fix any errors I make, I'd appreciate the help as well in that area. Thank you, and enjoy!**

Chapter 2

I arrived back at the bridge, stepping out of the lift after the doors slid open, "Anything new?"

"I have pinpointed the source of the signal." R.O.B. began, "It appears to be a large freighter. Its registration is unintelligible due to usage of unknown languages. Design does not match any known ships on our records."

"Can we see it?" I asked, moving to stand behind Falco while he sat at the ops terminal.

As if on cue, a poor quality image of some kind of vessel appeared on the screen. It was bulky and seemed industrial, definitely giving off the impression of some kind of cargo transport. There were many areas that looked as if the ship had been recently attacked, and there were particles of debris- that I could barely make out—surrounding it.

"That look like damage right there to you?" I pointed to the various blotches at marks I had noticed.

"Definitely looks like it." Falco nodded.

"We will reach the source in ten minutes." R.O.B. reported. We'll just have to wait until then to find out.

* * *

"Hail them again, R.O.B." I instructed, the channel opening once more, "Unidentified vessel, the is Fox McCloud aboard the starship Great Fox. We are civilian and are willing to provide assistance if needed, please respond."

"No response." R.O.B. repeated after a few moments.

"Well keep sending them that message."

"Try using other languages or symbols." Falco added, "They might not understand us."

"Affirmative."

It was clear now that this alien ship was damaged in battle. R.O.B. had said that it looked as if there was only one attacker and that the scale of the damage suggested the attacker was in some kind of small fighter craft. But the weapons this craft used were unknown. The damage had caused the reactor core to slowly begin overloading. The ship would explode in a couple of hours.

"If there are survivors, then they probably can't respond anyway." Falco said, "Our best shot would be to just dock and investigate it. We already have enough proof that we could just do that."

It was only legal to dock and board another vessel without consent if there was proof beyond a doubt that the ship and its occupants are in danger, and of course to board with the intent of saving them. Falco was right, our best shot would be to dock and quickly scan the place for survivors before the reactor popped from the pressure that was building up inside it.

"Yeah, that's probably our only option at this point." I agreed and he stood up.

"What's the air like in there?" He asked.

"Analysis indicates the strong presence of chemicals known and unknown within the air within. The ones that we know of are highly toxic, able to kill in minutes upon inhalation." R.O.B. stated, turning to us, "There are also many depressurized areas due to the hull ruptures sustained from the damage."

"Well we can just wear the survival suits in the air lock to solve that problem." I said, turning to Falco who looked like he wanted to say something, "What?"

"Yeeaah...about the suits..." He began, "They're uh...I forgot 'em back at the station...when we first recommissioned the ship." He said.

I stood there, mouth open slightly for a few moments, "...You're kidding, right? Y-you **forgot** to bring our space suits into the ship way back then?" I asked, glaring at him.

Falco put up his hands, "Hey, there was A LOT of stuff to bring on board, they were in the corner, out of the way. I just thought you or Slippy brought 'em in already." He said, "But then I realized that they were missing when I went into the airlock after we took off."

I sighed, "Okay, but why didn't you bring it up when you found out they were gone?"

"I don't know. I was planning to, but I couldn't find the right time. I'm sorry, okay?"

"Well now how are we gonna get in there and not die?" I sat down, rubbing my forehead as I thought about what we were gonna do now. If we went in without survival gear, we'd be fucked, that's plain as day.

"...We could use the emergency air masks." Falco suddenly suggested after a minute, "They'd work for us long enough to get in there, check for survivors and get out."

I looked up, "...Yeah. That works, it's not going to be pleasant though if we have to go into a vacuum." The masks were designed to be used in case there was a sudden hull breach and you were left without air in a vacuum. You would be able to survive for a little less than a minute or two before you'd start dying from being given a big hickey all over your body from space, but it was long enough to get out of that.

"I'll go round some together." Falco said, pushing himself away from the wall and heading out.

"Alright. I'll get our gear ready." I said, getting up and following him out.

* * *

Falco was already in the airlock by the time I got there. He had several breathing masks as well as a large collection of pocket-sized air tanks. He looked up at me when I entered, "The others are for any survivors." He explained. I wasn't planning to question them but, I just nodded in response anyway.

"Here." I handed him one of the two packs I had with me, "We can carry the canisters in these." I said before kneeling down and began filling my pack with the air tanks.

"Initiating docking sequence." I heard R.O.B's voice in my ear, coming from my head set and also presumably from Falco's as well.

"Oh and here's this too." I looked over to see Falco holding my blaster out to me, still in its holster, "You left it in your arwing after we got back."

I put my paw to where my holster was and sure enough, it was gone, "Oh, thanks. I guess I forgot." I took it from him and strapped it back onto my leg.

"Yeah." He said, putting the tanks I didn't get as well as the other masks into his pack before strapping it onto his back.

There was a bang and a hiss before R.O.B. spoke again, "Docking complete."

I moved over to the airlock controls, "Ready?" I asked, looking back at him.

He slipped on his mask before giving a thumbs-up, "Let's go." His voice was a bit muffled now but I still could hear him clearly.

I put on my own mask before I turned back to the controls and opened the doors. Before they opened. There was a hiss and a bit of a draft came through before the doors came apart, revealing the interior of the other ship.

"Well, let's get going then." I said before we stepped through together, the air lock shutting behind us. Each of our mini air tanks could supply us ten minutes of air, plus the extra ten canisters we carried each and we could be down here until the reactor blew—about one-and-a-half hours from now. We could only really be here for an hour as we'd be pushing it if we lingered past that mark. I just hoped that we'd find either somebody to rescue or at least something of value if there was nobody to rescue. I'd really suck if we did all this for no reason.

* * *

"I've never seen anything like this before." Falco said as we inspected the first thing we came across: A corpse.

"Yeah. I'd bet this might be a member of the crew. He's got what I thing looks like cyber-implants attached to him. It was some kind of insect-looking thing. It's claws clutched something. Some kind of device. I reached out to take it, but the door behind us suddenly came open.

By the time I stood up and turned around, Falco was already pointing his blaster at whatever or whoever just came in. It was a taller figure, about 6 feet. They wore some kind of strange...suit or armor. It was orange with patches of yellow all over it, and was slender in form. The helmet was red with a green visor. On one arm, there was some kind of cannon which they proceeded to point at us and I drew my own blaster.

There was a moment before I suddenly realized who this must be, "...Samus Aran?" I asked, unsure, "Is that you Samus?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 **Note: Alright, I'm setting a schedule for when you can expect my next chapters in the future: I'll update every weekend.**

Impossible. How **could** this be Samus? What the hell would she be doing way out here? Federation and Cornerain territory were separated by a vast section of unoccupied and empty space. You'd have to have a really important reason to travel between them to make it worth the time it takes. Yet here she was, standing before me and Falco. This new suit she had had caught me off guard. Normally, I'd recognize her bulky former suit, not this slender, sleeker one. It almost looked like it was just...fabric...but then again, Chozo technology is light years ahead of anything I've seen. Sometimes, it seems to work like magic if you believe in that stuff...Well, I'm not really sure **what** I saw on Sauria way back then, but still. Many, many questions bubbled up within me that only added to the list I already had.

She looked us both up and down before she lowered her arm cannon after seemingly recognizing us, "...What are you doing here?" She eventually asked us, it sounding more like a demand than a question. I could've asked the same question.

"W-well, uh, we were investigating a distress signal that we tracked to this...place." I explained, holstering my blaster before standing up from my crouched position on the floor by the corpse, "Why are you here?"

She looked at me for a few moments—or at least I think she was looking at me, it was hard to tell what was going on behind that opaque visor, "...I am the reason this vessel is in the state that it is." She said.

"You killed the crew? Why?" Falco asked.

"These were militants and terrorists that belonged to what's left of the Zebatian Empire."

"Oh." So these were the Zebatian space pirates that had been causing so much trouble for the Federation. From what I've heard, they had lost the war several years ago. What was left of the ones who wouldn't surrender were nothing more than a feeble resistance that went into hiding or committed to small-scale terror attacks.

Samus then walked around us and proceeded to leave the area. Jumping up, I followed her, seeing an opportunity to talk.

"So, uh, I see you've got a new suit." I began.

She glanced to me before speaking, "...It's not new. My armor suit was changed as a result of an...accident." was her reply. She didn't look at me, and continued on down the corridor at a fast pace.

"Oh...what happened?" I asked.

"That's none of your concern." She replied quickly.

"Right, sorry." I apologized.

When nothing else was said, I decided that it'd be best to change the subject, "So, what are you going to do with all this?"

"...I am going to look for clues as to what the space pirates are doing here if you must know." she answered.

"Yeah, that's sounds like—"

Samus stopped and turned to me suddenly, "Fox, I am busy and have more important things to do than to talk and answer your insipid questions."

I had fallen silent while she lashed out at me.

"You and I—" She gestured between us with her hand, "—are not friends." She finished.

I was slightly ticked at this, "Right. Because, you clearly have so many friends." I shot back.

It was her turn to fall silent. She seemed to look downward only sightly before she slowly turned and resumed walking down the hall. Falco came up beside me at this moment, a small smile on his face.

"Well, you sure know how to pick 'em up." He said, staying true to having a smart comment for everything.

I looked at him, frowning, "Sometimes, I really want to punch you."

"Hey, it's not my fault you can't talk to the ladies."

"What? I was't trying to-. What made you think I was trying to-...what?" I asked angrily, feeling confused and frustrated by his commentary.

"Hey, hey, I was just messing with you." He laughed, shaking his head, "Jeez, you need to relax...maybe get a girlfriend already." He said, sounding more like he was trying to lighten my attitude rather than annoy me. It didn't work, it only made me remember.

I sighed, "Don't remind me, okay?"

"...You're still stuck on her, aren't you?" He asked in an accusing voice.

"Maybe I am! Maybe I'm stuck on a lot of things! What's it to you?"

"Just forget about Krystal already, man. She obviously didn't give a crap." He thew his arms out in a wide gesture as he spoke with a more frustrated tone.

"No, she did.." I looked down at the ground slightly, "I just blew it kicking my feet around."

He sighed, "Well, whatever did happen, it's in the past now. You can't sit around, spending the rest of your life feeling sorry for yourself. You have to accept that things happen and move on." He was right. I was being childish, stuck on things that happened years ago.

I opened my mouth to reply and tell him that, but then there was a rumble in the ship and the room gently vibrated, reminding us that we had a time constraint for being here, "We should leave." was all I ended up saying. He just nodded in agreement before we headed back towards the air lock.

* * *

 _Samus Aran_

 _I realize that Fox had only been trying to be friendly. As much as I hated hurting someone else who didn't deserve it, I didn't want him to get close to me. Everyone I had who was close to me is dead...save for one. Also, the Federation would target anyone who is affiliated with me. At the end of the day, I decided that it would be better that Fox think that I'm a jerk than to let him get close and have him die, or worse._

 _I came back to the shuttle bay after I double checked the space pirate ship for any survivors of my assault. There were none. My ship sat there, waiting for me on the landing pad._

 _Once I was aboard, Adam started talking, "What did you find out?"_

" _They had instructed their ship's AI to wipe all files from the system and then self-self district. Though that does prove that they are up to something in this system." I told him._

" _Hm, it does. We need to scour this entire system then, allowing the Zebatian resistance to grow strong is not wise." He told me. I simply nodded before activating the engines and turning the ship around inside the bay. Once I flew the ship back into space, Adam plotted a flight course to the nearest planet, called Titania._

" _We should arrive in about-" He was cut off when the ship exploded around me. I soon lost consciousness at some point during the blast._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 _ **Samus**_

 _Drifting, drifting. There was sound, motion, and light everywhere, but none of it was seen, felt, or heard. In this swirling mass of this invisible light, slowed motion, and deadened sound, a voice spoke out,_

" _...What?" it said slowly, sounding confused._

 _I realized then-as I regained enough consciousness—that this was my voice...or rather my thought as I hadn't actually spoken. The next thing I came to realize was that I had survived. Slowly, I opened my eyes and saw I was still in my ship, right where I was, except there was no power, and the ceiling brandished a gaping hole, revealing the cosmos. Still weak, I eventually started losing consciousness again. The last thing I saw before my eyes closed was a bright light shining through the hole in the ceiling. Then, the drifting_ returned.

* * *

 **Galactic Federation HQ (6 months ago)**

I sat in a chair in front of the desk in the office. The man behind the desk had a very disappointed expression written on his face.

"The council has invested **billions** of credits in me and the mission I have been put in charge of." He spoke, his hands folded on top of surface, "And after I exhausted most of it trying to work with our personnel, I sunk the remaining portion of my budget in hiring the supposed 'elite' mercenaries that you call yourself and those in your organization...And after twelve months, you have produced **nothing**." He leaned forward, "I don't think that you are as great as you claim to be, certainly not after this...pathetic display. In fact, I think that you are just a bunch of washed-up, out-dated thugs that-"

"We know where she is, that she's not planning on leaving there for a while, and we have discovered a means to cripple her." I interrupted him, saying my words simply and gruffly.

His face looked vaguely surprised and he leaned back in his chair, "...Well, that certainly changes things...Then if what you say is true, I trust that I will see results soon." Was his response.

"You'll get her when we have her." I told him, leaning back and putting my feet up on his desk.

"No. You'll have her within the next cycle as our contract has disclosed, or I will have you. Is that understood?" His authoritative tone had returned to him, "And get your stinking boots off my desk."

I smirked, lowering my feet, "Don't worry. We will have already gotten her long before then, sir." I assured him.

"Colonel, sir?" a voice came from the phone on his desk.

I watched him pick up the receiver and hold it up to his ear before he answered, "Yes? What is it?...Alright, you can patch him through to me here." He eyed me, seeming to have forgotten that I was here. Lowering the phone briefly, he opened his mouth, "You may leave now, Mr. O'Donnell...Do not squander my trust. You'll regret it if you do." He said quickly before returning to the phone. Nodding, I got up and moved to the door.

As I left, I overheard part of his conversation, "Yes, sir?...Hm, yes, I agree completely, sir." He gave of a subtle laugh, "...Yes, I have the situation well in hand...Yes, of course, sir." Was all I got before the door shut behind me and I made my way out of the complex and onto the street.

I brought my wrist clasp up to my face, pressing a few buttons before I contacted my team, "Alright we're done here on this rock, which means we are leaving." I spoke.

"Ah, but there are so many opportunities here left...undiscovered. May we stay but a little longer?" a suave voice replied to me.

"No. We are leaving. If you guys aren't all on the ship at 1200 hours, you're getting left behind." I tapped my wrist clasp again to close communications. I passed by a holographic billboard on the street. Among the various ads and new clips, I saw a poster:

 **WANTED**

Dead or Alive

Name: Samus Aran

Species: Human

Gender: Female

Height: 1.9m *****

Weight: 89.8kg *****

Hair: Blond

Eyes: Blue

Threat lvl.: 15/10

Charges

Mass Homicide

Treason

Terrorism

Destruction of government property

Possession/transportation of illegal cargo

Piracy

Notes

Subject is exceptionally well armed and is extremely dangerous.

 **REWARD**

1,000,000,000 credits alive

50,000,000 credits dead

I smirked again, "They won't be needing those posters for much longer." I muttered to myself, continuing down the street, slowly making my way towards the port.

* * *

 _ **Samus**_

 _I awoke in a dimly lit room. My first instinct was to raise my arm cannon to sweep the room for hostiles. When there were none, I relaxed more, taking in where I was._

 _The place seemed to be a bedroom; I was laying on a bed that was situated against the wall farthest from the entrance, which had a single window that displayed outer space—from which came the only light that illuminated the room. By the door, there was a desk and a computer terminal. The desk had a couple empty ration canisters that had the words 'alcoholic ration. 4.2% concentration._ 354ml ***** ' _written on them. To one side, there was a clothes dresser. On the opposite side, there was a small coffee table with a little pile of magazines in the center. The door had the name "Falco L." etched onto its surface, and I relaxed further; This was Fox's ship that I was on. They had likely picked me up when my ship was blown up by—what I presume was—a bomb that one of the pirates had planted onto the hull before he died._

 _I looked at my hands—or rather my hand and weapon—and felt like I wanted to deactivate my suit at that moment, be able to stretch and relax. And I did exactly that. I willed my suit to fade away, leaving me in only its basic form—the zero suit. I was tired, no I was exhausted. Too many sleepless days took a toll on me. So, I laid back on the bed to catch some much needed rest now that I knew I was relatively safe. Just as a precaution, though, I kept my suit at the ready to be redeployed._

* * *

 **Fox**

We had undocked from the zebatian ship just in time to see Samus' ship flying out of it before suddenly exploding. We salvaged the wreak and rescued her shortly afterwards. Her ship was badly damaged, but had remained in one piece for the most part, meaning that it was likely that we could get it fixed up at some point. Falco said she could rest in his quarters, so we took her there. The other quarters besides ours had no furniture anyway.

I had just come from the rec room after eating dinner. In my hands, I carried a tray with another meal—if you can call the rations a 'meal'. This meal was for Samus, if she was hungry and awake.

Once I reached Falco's door, I considered ringing the bell, but she was unconscious the last time I checked, so I just decided to open the door and come in.

Samus was laying on the bed, without her suit on—with the exception of her arm cannon which materialized onto her hand when she saw me. She instantly lowered her weapon when she saw me, it vanishing off her arm again.

"Hey." I started, "How are you feeling?"

"...Fine."

"Hm, well that's good." I laughed nervously, noticing the tray in my hands, "I brought you something to eat if you're hungry...You, you do eat, right?" I dared to ask.

She stared at me, "Of course I do."

"Oh, right. Sorry." I set the tray down on the desk, and she got up and walked over to it.

"What happened?" She asked, sitting in the chair and poking some at the food.

"Um, well we know that your ship exploded, and so we recovered it and you." Was all I said. Finding that I was starring too much, I averted my eyes for a moment, "The ship is still in one piece, so it can be repaired when we get to Corneria."

"What about the AI on board?" She asked.

"...Well, it was fragmented pretty bad...but I know someone who might be able to repair it."

She began eating the food. Upon her first bite, she paused, looking up at me as if I had done something strange. Slowly, she chewed and swallowed, "...It's good."

"Well, I wouldn't say that it's good." I told her, "More like it's just all we got to eat around here."

She just nodded as she continued eating, "...Thank you...for...rescuing me." She said, seeming to be hesitant to thank me. I just nodded.

"Well...you should thank Falco, he's the one who actually went out there." I told her, "Anyway, we'll reach Corneria in a couple of days. Just, make yourself at home, I guess." Was the last thing I said before backing up to the exit. Samus just nodded in response.

As I walked, I came to the realization that I have actually changed. I can't have a conversation with someone any more without feeling awkward about it. I catch myself often either reminiscing or just plain lost in my thoughts. I'm much quieter now than I used to be. More timid, for lack of a better word. I wondered what else could have changed about me that I haven't known yet. I kept on thinking about these things until I was back at the rec room.

"Is she awake yet?" Falco asked me as I walked in, still working at his plate.

"Yeah. She's fine now." I replied, grabbing a coffee ration, twisting the lid clockwise and shaking it to get it to start heating up the contents inside, before sitting down across from him.

"Man, she's lucky she survived."

"I guess." I couldn't find much to say.

"Yeah, well it's probably best not to think about it too much anyway." He waved his hand, "So, when we get to Corneria, what are you gonna do?"

"Well, I was thinking that I'd go pay Peppy a visit. See how he's holding up. Slippy too."

"Hey, that's a good idea. Mind if I join you on that?" He took a bite from his plate.

"No, not at all." I said, cracking open the coffee now and taking a ginger sip from the hot, cheap waker-upper, "But...I think the first thing I'll do is get some decent food to eat." We both laughed at this.

"Yeah, won't argue with ya there, heh." He finished his meal and got up to throw the trash away, yawning, "I think I'm gonna go get some sleep now...Well actually, where do I sleep now that Samus is in my quarters?" He asked.

"You can sleep in mine. I'm gonna be up for a while." I offered. He thought for a moment before shaking his head.

"Nah, I'll just sleep in here on that couch over there." He said, going over to it and laying down with his arms behind his head.

"Alright, night."

"Night." I got up and left the room then, heading for the observation deck.

* * *

 ***For those of you who may not be familiar with the metric system:**

 **1.9 meters is about 6'3"**

 **89.8 kilograms is about 198 pounds.**

 **354** **milliliters is 12 ounces.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Hello everyone who's been reading this story here. Sorry for taking such a long time to come out with this next little bit. Many things came up in my real life that got in the way and made me lose a bit of confidence in myself. I also was distracted with other projects that I am working on across the board. I did, however, finally get myself into gear to produce the next bit of this fanfiction. This one is going to be shorter than previous sections because it's only purpose is tying up the lose ends that I didn't get to in the last chapter and I wanted to save what comes next after this to make a longer chapter. I can't tell for sure at this point how long it will be until I get chapter six out, because I'm actually still dealing with some these problems that have arisen around me. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Please review and provide me some feedback if you can so I can be aware of something I need to improve upon that I didn't notice myself. See ya next chapter!**

Chapter 5

 **Fox**

I was walking down an unfamiliar corridor. Outside the occasional window, I saw a gleaming city below and I realized where I was: I was on Corneria. Specifically, I was in the the tower of the Intergalactic Peace Hub. What I couldn't figure out was how I was here right now. Did I just not remember the last two days involved in getting here? My answer didn't come to me.

I wasn't sure where I was going...In fact, I felt like I couldn't make myself stop if I tried. I reached my destination soon enough: At the top of the tower. I stepped through the doors of the elevator and saw Peppy standing at the window with his back to me. I tried to call out to him, but I couldn't summon the power to speak. I slowly approached him and my arm reached up and tapped his shoulder.

"Hm?" He muttered when he turned to face me. When Peppy saw me, his face drained, as if he saw the most terrifying thing, "Oh...my...god..." He said slowly, seeming in shock, "It's...is that...really you?" he started backing up away from me. I tried to ask him what was wrong, but I still couldn't speak.

"In the living flesh." I said...but these were not my words, nor my voice, "Long time no see, huh Peppy?" Before he could respond—and to my own horror—I drew a blaster from within my jacket and shot him in the chest.

"NO!" I screamed, jerking up in the chair and being greeted by a breathtaking view of a nearby wandering nebula. But I was too panicked to care about the scenery. With wide eyes and adrenaline coursing through my veins, I looked around the room. Seeing that I was back on the observation deck of my ship, I relaxed a bit.

Still shaken by the horrific and vivid nightmare, I jumped when R.O.B.'s voice came through my communicator, "Fox. I detected a loud eruption of noise that matched your voice patterns on security feed in the observation deck. Are you alright?"

I settled back into the seat, "I-I'm...I'm okay...It was just a dream." I responded to him and that was it. Leaning back, I closed my eyes and tried to calm down, "...It was just a dream..." I muttered to myself.

* * *

 **Two days later**

Nothing else had happened the entire trip to Corneria. Falco just hung around on the rec deck while I went about the ship checking various systems and equipment to pass the time. Samus just kept to herself, only approaching one of us if she had something important to talk about—which pretty much never happened. If she wanted to find out where something was, she would just search around until she found it. Once, while I was talking to Falco, I asked if he'd even seen Samus at all and to my surprise, he said no. He saw her last when we picked her up.

When he asked me why I wanted to know, I said something like: "Just curious that's all." Of course, Falco killed the conversation when he told me that I seemed to be curious about Samus a lot lately. This wasn't the first time he did something like this. For as long as I could remember, he always teased me about women and the fact that I get a bit awkward around them.

R.O.B. pulled the ship into orbit and opened a channel to the hub station nearby.

"Hub Seven, this is Fox McCloud of the starship Great Fox requesting permission to doc, over."

"This is Hub Seven, permission granted. You're clear to dock at bay 2. Welcome to Corneria." The radio operator responded and R.O.B. moved the ship into a docking course with the lighted port.

After getting on the station, we got Samus' ship into a repair shop. We couldn't afford the price of repairing her advanced gunship, but thankfully, the canine mechanic seemed very interested in examining it's systems, so Samus made a deal with him: He fixes it up for a discount price, he gets schematics for a Chozo ship missile launcher. Afterwards, when I asked her why she so quickly gave up the schematics, she told me that it was most likely that the dog would die of old age before he could figure them out.

Samus also told me about how the Chozo always were willing to share knowledge and technology with other races and societies that had similar views to theirs. To my surprise, she said that the they had even visited the Lylat system once. However, the Chozo had arrived during the early tensions between the Venomians and Cornierains. Both parties had attempted to gain their trust, but only to have access to their technology so that they would have an advantage over the other. Because of these motivations, the Chozo did not involve themselves with the Lylat civilizations and left them to their fate.

I only remember a small section about the Chozo in my time in school. I understand now why it was so small and non-detailed because they didn't stick around long enough to have anything be known about them.

Samus had decided to remain on the station to oversee the repairs of her gunship while Falco and I were headed down to the planet. She entrusted me with her ship's AI so I could find my friend to repair it. This friend of mine was Slippy Toad. If he couldn't fix it, then I don't think anyone could.

On the shuttle ride down to the surface, that's when the news got out. Falco was on his PDA when every screen—including his—lit up with a breaking news report. I was asleep next to him and was awoken when I heard him mutter: "Oh shit." He nudged me and I woke up fully to see him hold up the screen for me to see. Someone had attempted to murder General Peppy Hare in his office! The blood in my veins froze solid when I saw a picture of who it was on the security footage.

"No...that can't be right. That's not...that's not right." I shook my head, blinked and rubbed my eyes to no avail. I wasn't seeing things. The man in the footage, the man who tried to take Peppy's life, was my father.


	6. Chapter 6

**Note: Okay, here it is finally, I'm sorry it took so long. Been having to deal with a lot of things right now, but I won't be giving up on this fanfic. I was just slowly chipping away at this chapter when I the had time to. Again, sorry it's been slow. Please read and review if you'd like to let me know what you think and what you would like me to improve about this series. I welcome constructive ****criticism. Thank you for your time and enjoy!**

Chapter 6

 **McCloud**

I sat in the hallway, across from the room that housed the recovering Peppy Hare. The only other person there with me was the guard standing by the door. I came here to see him as soon as I had gotten off the landing craft. Falco had left momentarily to go get Slippy and Peppy's daughter, Lucy, and bring them here. To my relief, the doctor said that he was going to make it okay out of this, and that he should be back on his feet in a few weeks.

As I sat there, I racked my brain about what had happened. My father was caught on camera infiltrating the Galactic Peace hub and trying to murder Peppy. It didn't make any sense. But, James McCloud is dead, it was confirmed that he was dead. How _could_ that have been my dad? And why would he try to kill his best friend? It just didn't add up, none of it. The only solution I could think of at the time was that perhaps it was just someone who maybe looked like him and was dressing like him, but there were a few things that still didn't fit right into the puzzle. Who wanted Peppy dead? Why would they want people to think that it was my father who tried to kill him?

A nurse came out of the room and walked over to me, "Alright, Mr. McCloud. General Hare has regained consciousness. You may go in and see him now." she said. Standing up, I followed her into the room. There he was, laying there. He looked tired and worn down, but he was still alive and breathing. I'll give him credit, the old man is tough. For that moment, I regretted that I had been worried about him.

I came up to his bedside, and he slowly looked at me, "Fox..." he said with a weak voice, a small smile appearing on his face.

"Hey, Peppy. How you doing?" I asked, smiling back at him.

"...Oh...I've been better." He said, then his face became more serious, "...Fox, I...it was your—"

"I know." I cut him off, "I saw it all on the security feed...But Peppy, he's—"

"Dead, I-I know. I'm not sure what's goin on...but I know that this can't be your father. It's not like him...Fox, there have been lot of...strange things have been happening within our borders lately."

My eyebrows raised, "Like what?"

He weakly grabbed my arm and pulled me closer, whispering in my ear, "...Spectral phenomenons, unidentified signals just beyond the reach of our scanners...equipment has been disappearing without any trace from storage sites, personnel have gone missing only to turn up fine weeks later, each with a nearly **identical** story." He said, "Something big is going on right under our noses." He told me.

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.

"...Because you're the only one I can trust." He said, "...I need you to look into this for me."

"But...you are the general. Can't you just look into it yourself?" I asked, a bit shocked at all this.

"I've been temporarily relieved of my position until I've fully recovered. Power has been directed to general Howitz, whom I have never trusted, and I don't trust him now." He said, suddenly breaking out into a coughing fit. I handed him the glass of water that was on the bedside table when he was done, "Ahh...Fox, please. This is important. The Lylat system could very well be at stake once again. I need you to do this for me, please."

"Peppy...I'm not who I was anymore. There has to be someone more qualified that me. I..." I tried to think of something to say, but my words fell short.

"I couldn't think of anyone more qualified than you. Fox, this is bigger than both of us." He pressed.

I looked down to the floor for a moment in thought. Peppy was right. If all this is true, then we could very well be sitting on the edge of another war. With whom? I don't know, but it was clear that someone has rooted themselves into the Cornerian government. I had seen some of these small signs of corruption before, but it didn't expect that it was coming from something from outside. Now it made more sense why they would make an attempt on Peppy's life. He would be seen as a threat to whatever goals they had, so they would have to eliminate him. But I couldn't prove for sure that this attempted assassination and whatever conspiracy was going on here was linked. I just had a feeling.

Looking back to Peppy, I had made up my mind, "What do you need me to do?"

* * *

 _ **Aran**_

 _My ship would take about three weeks to repair. This whole circumstance I'm in is exactly what I didn't want to have happen. Adam had been damaged so I was on my own...well that would be a lie. I currently had Fox and Falco as my...allies here. Their ship was my only hope for transportation right now. I'd have to open up more of what I know to them and...convince Fox to help me scour the system for any activity. It wasn't necessarily that I hadn't liked Fox, he seemed alright and was fairly reliable to have as an ally the few times I worked with him. But I needed to draw the line when it came to calling him a friend. I couldn't have friends like I used to. I nearly lost everyone who had meant anything to me. Who I opened myself up to. My parents, Gray Voice, Adam, and I nearly had lost Anthony._

 _I was at a small, pretty much empty restaurant on the station, having lunch. I had seen the news report of the Cornerian General Peppy Hare having almost been killed by an assassin. It only helped to reinforce my suspicions of the pirate activity I've noticed in the system. One reason they would possibly try to regroup here is because it is remote from the Federation and the Cornerians are unfamiliar with their kind. The Zebatians might try to attack and conquer them if they regain the strength to do so. I couldn't let that happen. I got up when I was done, left the restaurant and returned to the Great Fox to go over its star maps so I could familiarize myself with the layout of the system._

* * *

 **McCloud  
**

Falco had just gotten back with Slippy and Lucy. I stepped out back into the hall while they were seeing Peppy. I needed to think anyway. However, after a few minutes, my solitude was ended as Slippy came out of the room. I looked up from my hunched position as he sat next to me, "Hey Fox, how are you?" He asked, the color in his voice seeming to be gone right now.

"I've been okay, could be better." I replied, "How about you? I hear you're the new Research Director for the defense force. Nothing like following in your father's footsteps, huh?" I nudged him a bit teasingly, trying to lighten the mood a little.

"Heh, yeah I guess so." He smiled a little, "I watched you in your races on the network. 1st place in the Galactic Prix."

"Hm, yep. Got the trophy in my quarters." I smiled at the thought of the race. Then, I remembered that I was going to asked Slippy to take a look at Samus' AI at that moment, "Hey, Slippy? I've got a damaged AI here. R.O.B. couldn't repair it, so I was wondering if you could take a look at it for me." I asked of him.

"Oh, sure thing. Do you have it with you?" He asked and I nodded.

I reached into my pocket, producing the chip and handing it to him. He took it and looked over it, frowning slightly.

"This isn't Cornerian. It's—"

"Galactic Federation. I know." I beat him to it.

"How'd you get it?" He asked.

"It belongs to Samus Aran." I explained.

"Samus Aran? Like, the galactic bounty hunter Samus Aran, right?"

"Yeah, that's the one. She's with us right now."

Slippy had taken out a small device and inserted the chip into it, pressing a few buttons before he frowned, "Yeah. It's fragmented alright, but I think I can fix it." He said.

"Alright. If you can that'd be great, thanks Slippy." I smiled.

"No problem." He smiled back.

It was then that I remembered my conversation with Peppy, and it made my smile falter as I started thinking about it again.

"What's wrong?" Slippy asked me, obviously noticing my downed expression.

"...It's what Peppy said to me earlier."

"What did he say?"

I took a moment to explain to him what Peppy and I discussed earlier before they got here. He seemed shocked for a lack of better words.

"...Wow, so we could be sitting in the midst of a war and we aren't even aware of it."

"Yep, it seems like it. And Peppy has asked me to go and investigate the suspicious activity that's been recorded in the system."

"Why? Why not have the defense force go in and investigate?" He asked, confused.

"Because he doesn't trust those in the defense force right now. I'm the only one he trusts at the moment to still be on our side." I explained.

"...I'll go with you." He suddenly offered, making me look back at him in slight surprise.

"No, Slippy, you don't need to—"

"I'm going with you. You'll need my help if the military can't do anything." He insisted.

"...Alright." I gave in.

He was probably right. If me and Falco were the only ones who could be trusted to do anything in Corneria's interests, we'd need Slippy's genius on our side. Something told me then that the echo of Star Fox was still here. In a sense, the team was getting back together again to address this recent and covert threat. But I'm not sure how things were going to pan out this time. We had no official status or authority this time. We might be digging ourselves into our own graves by taking action...But I'd rather do that than to sit by and let Corneria crumble.


	7. Chapter 7

**Note: Hey everyone who has been following this fanfic. I finally got chapter 7 done after what seemed like AGES. I had lost a bit of confidence after hitting a writer's block, but I slowly chipped away at it with each day until it was done. I'm not giving up, I assure those of you who may have started thinking that. I'm not flying by the seat of my pants with this story either. I actually have written out a storyboard for it and have gone over what I want to have happen in future chapters. Anyway, here is ch. 7 ready for you all to read and enjoy. Thank you for any support you have given me as I have worked through this. Oh, and I also have included a section in my profile called "story updates" where I will post, you guessed it, updates on my progress in this story and any other fanfics I may write in the future so that you can better know just where I'm at in terms of getting the next chapter out. Thank you again for your support and your time. Enjoy!**

Chapter 7

 **McCloud**

Falco and Slippy were down in the hospital lobby, wanting for me. I had stayed behind to talk to Peppy a bit longer, but now I was heading down. The elevator doors finally opened after what seemed like hours of waiting(It was a big hospital, about a hundred something floors). Stepping in, the only other people inside were a woman and her child, I didn't really take much notice and just stepped in and pressed the button for the ground floor.

After about three minutes, I noticed that they were looking at me, especially the kid, who looked amazed. I tried to ignore them, but then, the woman spoke, "H-hey, you're Fox McCloud, aren't you?" She asked me.

I looked at her and laughed slightly, "Heh, yep. That's me." I tried to be as casual as I could.

"Wow, it's such an honor to meet a war hero in person." She said.

"Oh, you flatter me too much...I-I was just doing my job." I stuttered halfway through my sentence, but they didn't seem to notice.

The kid whispered something in her mother's ear, and she smiled and nodded. He then approached me, holding a post card depicting me standing next to my racer arwing just before the Galactic Prix began, "Um...Mr. McCloud? C-can I have your autograph? I really like your races." He didn't look me in the eye, just sort of stared at the ground shyly. The kid looked like he was at least seven or eight.

"Heh, sure thing kiddo." I smiled, and the mother hastily went into her purse and handed me a pen.

"What's your name?" I asked, signing my name on the post card and writing "Good luck!" next to it.

"Jeremy."

"Hm, that's a nice name." I told him, finishing and handing him the postcard back, "There you go."

The kid was beaming as he returned to his mother's side, clutching the postcard in his little hands.

"What do you say, Jeremy?" She asked him.

"Oh. Thank you, Mr. McCloud. You're the best!" He told me.

"You're very welcome." I said with a smile.

The elevator dinged and they moved closer to the door, "Bye." He said.

"It was nice to meet you, Jeremy. And you too, er..." I trailed off as I didn't know her name.

"Martha. Martha Collard." She told me, "It was nice to get to meet you in person, Mr. McCloud." She said before they stepped out of the elevator.

"Just call me Fox." I said just as the doors sealed shut and I continued my way down in silence.

* * *

 **R.O.B. (From a recovered memory file in his system)**

I was aboard the Great Fsj, at my station 0n the b/*dge. Just be4 Fox, Flaco, Sams, a/d Silpy returned, I received a subspsd./ me$$age arrsedsde to me. Up0n opening it, my system sdlhzebesdhtenusuddenly48ysdfwass…b1anked…/sr388(&...

ERROR! ERROR!

RECOVERY FAILED!

* * *

 **McCloud**

We had just gotten back aboard my ship and it was no less than five minutes back that Samus approached me, wanting to speak to me in private. Wondering what she wanted to talk about and also wanting to ask for her help in this mess, I followed her around the corner.

Once we were away from the others, she turned to me, "Fox, I...I'm going to have to ask for your...assistance here..." She began, sounding like she wasn't very comfortable saying this, "With my own ship being out of commission for now, I need a way to travel about the system. I've...picked up Zebatian signals and chatter numerous times originating from this sector of space, and I believe they are trying to regroup here. I must stop them if this is the case."

I rubbed my chin in thought at this new information. Perhaps the strange signals Peppy had gotten was Zebatian chatter that Samus was referring to? Whatever the case, we had a similar goal: To investigate the system for suspicious activity, "Well there's a coincidence if I ever saw one. I happen to be going out to investigate 'strange signals and chatter' myself. You can certainly come with us, Samus." I nodded to her, and she looked more relaxed now.

"Good. Thank you." She said, nodding back, "Are we leaving now?"

"Yes, just as soon as we get situated here. Oh, before I forget, I had my friend take a look at your AI for you. He was able to repair it fairly quickly." Reaching into my pocket, I took out the chip, and held it out to her.

Samus held it up to her face, seeming to be studying the chip's surface before she closed her hand and let her arm fall to her side, "Thank you."

"Yeah, no problem." I looked at the clock on my wrist clasp, "Oh, I need to get down to the docking bay right now to help re-outfit the arwings. You can come along if you want." I told her, staring to back away down the corridor. She nodded, following me and we set off.

We had got there just in time to see Slippy in the cockpit of my arwing, testing out the new targeting system he was installing. Falco was at the other end of the bay, tossing targets up for him to lock onto.

"Oh, Fox! Glad you're here now. I think I just got the kinks worked out of the new visor-to-arwing targeting sytem." Slippy said, powering off my arwing and hopping out of the cockpit, "I'm surprised that you guys have kept the arwings in such good condition since I was last here to work on them. They need some serious upgrades though, we can do them as we can." He told me.

"Heh, yeah. We tried to not wreck 'em _too_ much." I laughed slightly, "And I'm sure we'll need those upgrades. These haven't seen combat in a little more than a decade. The combat ability they have right now is way outdated at this point."

"You expecting trouble, Fox? I mean, if it were up to me, I'd say it's a bit premature to prepare for combat." He said, "We are just on a surveillance mission."

I nodded, "Yes, you've got a point, but you can't be too careful. I'd like to be ready in case things get ugly while we're out here. Nobody would be able to help us in time."

"Alright, then."

"Where are we headed first?" Falco asked, walking up to us from the far end of the docking bay.

I held up a holo-projector, ready to show them a view of the system chart. Casting it out, it exploded to life, filling the space in the middle of our circle with the Lylat System.

"We are here." I pointed to a arrowhead marker—which represented the Great Fox—orbiting Corneria, "Peppy gave me the coordinates of the last unknown transmission intercepted. Which, it should point us to..." I paused to punch in the mentioned coordinates into my wrist clasp. A wide crosshair appeared on the holo-map.

"Around Fortuna and Katina." Falco finished my sentence, "But the coordinates are not very accurate. Just that general sector of space. It's a start though, I guess."

"Yes, it is a start." I agreed.

"Wait." Samus suddenly spoke, making us all look at her, "Let me have the controls for a moment." I complied and took off my wrist clasp and handed it to her. She punched in something into it, and a second crosshair appeared, much more narrow now, on Fortuna, "This is the location of the last Zebatian transmission I intercepted." She explained.

"Huh, it seems we might be after the same source after all." I noted, "Way to narrow it down." She gave my clasp back and I put it on again.

"Alright, so we're going to Fortuna then." Slippy said, "I'll try to finish what upgrades we can install by the time we get there." He moved back across the bay to the arwings again.

"Alright, that's fine." I replied.

The rest of us departed. In the hall, I caught up with Samus, "Hey, Samus. I just wanted to let you know that with you and Slippy on board now, I got quarters set up for both of you to use. Yours is the one across from mine." I informed her.

"Okay. Thank you for letting me know." She said with a nod and kept moving on down the corridor.

After that I headed for the bridge to tell R.O.B. to plot a course for Fortuna. I wagered that what lied ahead was going to end up not being anything. I mean, what other enemies could Corneria have. We've defeated the Venomians, the Aparoids, the Anglars. And with the long lasting peace that has followed after it all, I didn't think anything else would come at us. Especially the wounded Zebatians. How wrong I was then in my way of thinking.


	8. Chapter 8: Part 1

**Note:** **Hello everyone! I unfortunately am not going to be able to make much or any progress on this story for the next three weeks or so. But I have gotten a good chunk of Chapter 8 done and refined before hand. Since I won't be working anymore for a good while, I decided to release just this portion as a 'part' instead of waiting a long time to finish the rest of it THEN post it. This, I hope, will be good enough to 'tide over' some of you who may have been waiting and give me less pressure to continue working when I get back from my vacation. Thank you those of you who have been supporting me through this project of mine, and have a good day.**

* * *

Chapter 8 Part 1

 **Samus**

I entered my new quarters, immediately sitting down in front of the terminal inside. I took out Adam's chip and inserted it into the receptacle. Within moments, he came online.

"...Samus?" He seemed to call out, "Are you there? Respond. I can't see or access anything."

"Yes, Adam. I'm here."

"What happened?" He questioned.

"My gunship was crippled by a plasma mine that one of the Zebesian Pirates on their freighter." I explained.

"Hm, that complicates our mission. Where are we now?"

"We are aboard a star ship belonging to...a friend of mine."

"...You have a friend out here? In the Lylat System?"

"He's more of an asset in truth. I've worked with him before. His name is Fox McCloud. His ship picked us up when we were drifting in space after the explosion."

"I see." Adam seemed to fall silent for a moment. Then, he started again, "Are they willing to help us?"

"Yes. The Cornerian defense force is largely being influenced by an outside party at the moment—which based on the evidence we have, I'd say it is very likely the Pirates in some way. They are the only threatening force out here at the moment—"

"Yes, that would make sense. But I'd like to not jump to conclusions until we can be certain." He pressed, "Go on."

"Apparently, one of their leaders, General Peppy Hare has turned to them to try and investigate what this outside party could be and if possible, figure out a way to confront them." I finished.

"So they have a similar goal to ours. Then I want you to continue working with them for now, they might be able to get to something we haven't. Plus, they're more familiar with this sector of space than either of us."

"..." I didn't respond, but Adam knew my answer, though it was a reluctant one. I silently—and fruitlessly—had hoped that Adam wouldn't think that we needed them for anything other than transportation. But I knew already that that wouldn't be the case.

* * *

 _ **Falco**_

 _At the time, I didn't really question what Peppy sent us on. Frankly, I expected it to just be a false alarm or something. Then again, Peppy usually was right about these things, so there was that._

" _Alright, R.O.B. we're heading to—" I stepped onto the bridge out of the lift, and noticed that R.O.B. wasn't there. He rarely left the bridge unless it was important, so I felt a bit wary of the fact that he was gone. I activated my communicator to attempt to contact R.O.B. to see where he was, but he didn't answer. When I tried to locate him with the internal sensor system, I could not. I called Slippy next, maybe he was down there in the docking bay helping out?_

" _Hey Slippy."_

" _...Yeah? I'm here." His voice came through after a moment._

" _Is R.O.B. down there with you?" I asked._

" _Uh...No. No he isn't...is he supposed to be?"_

" _Well no. I just thought maybe you called him down to help you out or something. He's not on the bridge where he should be."_

" _He's not up there with you?"_

 _I was silent for a moment at his question, shaking my head, "Yes. He isn't up here." I repeated myself in a frustrated tone, "Do you have any idea where he could be?"_

" _Well shoot, he uh, could be down in engineering I guess. That's where I'd start looking."_

" _Yeah, okay. I'll go check down there then." I ended the line and went back into the lift, pressing the button for deck zero—engineering._

 _When the doors slid open, I was greeted by darkness. I wasn't too worried, we turned off non vital systems like lighting in areas we rarely visited to conserve power._

 _Using a nearby wall terminal, I reactivated the lights down there. It looked empty as always, with the only activity being the reactor core and it's drumming rhythm. Once I got to the center of the chamber, I couldn't see anyone around. I almost turned around and left, but I decided to just make sure at the last moment._

" _R.O.B.? You down here?" I called out, and I suddenly heard the sound of robotic movement behind me. Turning around, I saw R.O.B. standing like two inches in front of me, "Gah!" I shouted and stepped back in surprise._

" _...Did I startle you, Falco? I apologize. Can I be of service?" He asked._

" _Um, no. You just, surprised me that's all." I told him, "What are you doing down here?"_

" _I was running a level two diagnostic on the reactor's coolant systems."_

" _Level two? Couldn't you just have done that from the bridge instead of coming all the way down here?"_

" _Quite so. However, the internal sensor systems aboard the ship are currently down." Was his explanation._

" _What? Why are they down?"_

 _R.O.B was silent._

" _R.O.B.?"_

" _...The system suffered ion damage from a wandering nebula that we passed through on our way to Corneria. I have not been able to repair the damage done yet." He explained finally and quickly._

" _...Alright." I said after a moment, "Anyway. I need you to set a course for Fortuna, that's why I came looking for you." I told him._

" _Affirmative. I will plot the course as soon as I return to the bridge." He said and turned around to head back for the elevator._

 _I watched him leave. Once he was gone, I approached a terminal on the floor and went through the systems log. The sensor systems were fully functioning no less than fifteen minutes ago before being shut down._

" _What the hell?" I muttered to myself and looked up at where R.O.B. had left, "Why would he lie?"_


	9. Chapter 8: Part 2

**Note: Hey guys! I know it's been a little bit of a while since I've updated, but I've kept my promise: I am still working on this story and am not giving up. Other than that, there isn't much to report this time. Be sure to check out my profile's update section to see what I've been up to or to have a good idea of when I'll be getting out the next portion in the future. I do "update" the update section regularly. Also, if you guys ask me any questions in PM or in a review you make, I'll likely answer them on my profile in the same section-I'll keep it anonymous regardless if you want me to. Oh, and if you have some suggestions as to what you'd like to see in this story or some input about something I might not be doing correctly, PLEASE tell me. I welcome constructive criticism and suggestions. (I cannot say that enough times to show how much I DO appreciate it.) With that said, enjoy and have a good day!**

Chapter 8 Part 2

 **Fox (Arrival at Fortuna)**

The ship pulled into orbit around the planet. I couldn't have said that I was surprised that something fishy could possibly be going on down there. Fortuna was vastly unexplored aside from surface scanning. Almost all of it's wildlife was deemed too dangerous to think to set up any kind of a settlement on it-I wouldn't want to live on a planet filled with dangerous man-eating plants. In the past, Andross had used the dense surface vegetation and teeming life to hid a number of covert operations during the war.

"Maintain maximum distance orbit, shut down the engines and all non-vital systems." I said, "We can't risk being spotted if there is something here." I instructed and the ship went dark, save for the terminals and minimal lighting.

"Alright, let's see if we can spot anything from up here." I said, "Scan the surface."

"No extraordinary activity detected." R.O.B. stated, "Though the dense jungle cannot be properly penetrated from an orbital scan."

"If we fly down there, we can get more accurate readings." Falco said, "But we would be putting ourselves out in the open where someone could see us."

"To complete our task, a close range surface scan is necessary." R.O.B. said, "There would be a higher chance of reaching the surface undetected with only one individual."

I noticed Falco had been practically staring at R.O.B. nonstop this whole time. I didn't get what was going on or happened with them but I didn't question it at the time, there were bigger things to worry about then.

"Well, then I'll go." I volunteered.

"Are you nuts?" Slippy and Falco said at the same time.

"If there is something down there this whole thing will be-" Falco tried to protest, but I cut him off.

"Well, unless you have a better idea. We need to do this."

"What if..." Samus spoke, making us look at her, "...What if there was a way to disguise yourself as something that would be overlooked? Like a meteorite?"

"...Well, unless you can find a rock that flies, I don't think we could do that." Falco said.

"Wait a minute..." Slippy trailed off in thought.

"You have an idea, Slippy?" I asked.

He nodded, "Yeah, I think we could do that. If we temporarily attach some scrap metal to an Arwing and drop it from orbit while it's offline, it could easily be passed off as just a small asteroid or a piece of debris."

We all sat there thinking Slippy's idea over. It definitely beat just flying in there and praying that you don't get spotted by whatever was down there.

"I calculate that there would be an 92% chance that an incoming pilot approaching in such a manner would be overlooked." R.O.B. added in.

Turning to Slippy, I placed a hand on his shoulder to get his attention, "So how are we gonna do that?" I asked, and he smiled after a second.

* * *

 _ **Falco**_

 _While we were all making our way to the hangar bay, I caught up with Fox and tapped his shoulder, "Hey, can I talk to you for a sec? Alone?"_

 _He looked to Slippy before nodding, "Sure." And we went a little ways away and around a corner,"What is it?"_

" _Something is up with R.O.B."_

" _What? What makes you say that?"_

" _He's been acting a little funny ever since we left the station at Corneria." I explained, "Disappearing at first a couple times, wandering around, and then he just recently flat out lied to my face when I was questioning him."_

 _He raised an eyebrow, "What happened?"_

 _Taking a moment, I explained briefly what had happened in engineering a few hours ago._

" _..." Fox didn't say anything. Rubbing his chin, he spoke, "...That's certainly not like him. What do you think we should do?"_

" _I dunno, but I've just been keeping an eye on him."_

" _That might be all we can do for now is to just see what happens. Let me know if he does anything else." And with that, we returned to the others._

* * *

 **? ? ?**

Again...Once again, I felt life being forced to flow through me. My mind felt ready to burst as my eyes opened and I screamed in agony. Each time was more painful than the next, and I always thought after that I couldn't have experienced more pain. But I was wrong every time.

"He's alive. It worked!" I heard a voice say close by.

Restraints that were holding my body down were released and slowly, I sat up. Almost immediately, I was surrounded by Science Team members who all wielded various tools that measured something about me and my vital signs.

"I don't think he'll survive another procedure like this." One said to another, showing him some readings, "The cells have degraded more so than the last time."

After they were done, they seemed to agree that I was fine and backed away from me.

I held up my arm and looked at it, it was made of some kind of metal with wires running through the insides the same seemed to be the case for the rest of my body, "...Hhhow much of mmme isss leffft..." I choked out, my voice even sounding dry and hoarse.

Two of them looked at each other before one spoke up, "Er, w-well...In terms of what is still organic...Y-your brain, lungs, and your heart are the only parts of you we could save." He said nervously, looking like he was expecting me to destroy him at any moment, "Everything else is fully supplemented by cybernetic-bionic replacements."

I looked at my arm again, seeing that it now was just a machine following my command. My real arm was gone. Every time I've been brought back, I've felt increasingly more hollow inside. But each time brought me closer and closer to my goal: To extinguish my enemy.

After that, I soon found myself before my leader. There, I was presented with a weapon I did not know could exist. A weapon of inconceivable power. A weapon that would mean the end of our enemy—my enemy. The end of Samus Aran.

* * *

 _ **Fox**_

 _We were finished, and my Arwing looked like a hunk of garbage now. It was completely covered in a shell of various pieces of metal that we had ripped off of the inner walls of the Great Fox._

 _The plan was that I would be dropped in from orbit powered off and enter the atmosphere posing as a small meteorite that would land in the ocean. The metal shell would protect me from burning up in the atmosphere and made me just look more like a rock from space. Once I hit the ocean, there were makeshift charges beneath the shell that I could remotely detonate to remove any portions of it that didn't get incinerated during entry. After that I just start up the G-Diffuser and only power up the engines. No shields or weapons systems or even comm systems because those could easily give me away. Stealth was of utmost importance here._

" _Alright, Fox. Climb in and we'll get this show on the road." Slippy told me._

" _Are you sure this isn't going to kill me?" I asked as I climbed into the cockpit._

" _Don't be so worried." He said just as I was sealed in._

" _Right...don't worry." I muttered to myself, putting on my head piece._

" _Alright, Fox. You ready?" Falco's voice sounded in my ear._

" _As ready, unwilling, and unprepared as I'll ever be." I said sarcastically._

" _Heh. You're the one who volunteered to do this, just remember that."_

 _I felt the Arwing being moved and I was approaching the hangar doors._

" _Good luck." Was the last thing I heard before I was free falling towards the planet._


	10. Chapter 9

**NOTE: Phew. Alright, I finally got Chapter Nine done. I'm really sorry that it's going so slow but I'm having to juggle this story, my business on forums, my DevientArt account, my steam group, my You Tube channel and my real life all at the same time. I'm still here and working on this and everything but (and I know this is like the hundredth time I've said this) things are just going to be slow. Thank you for you time and for understanding and I hope you enjoy!**

Chapter 9

 **Fox**

My Arwing crashed into the ocean and I was momentarily thrown forward.

"Ugh." I grunted from the impact.

Reaching down, I grabbed the detonator and mashed the button with my thumb. There was a muffled boom, and the Arwing vibrated before I saw the plates of scrap metal float away from me. Switching on the G-Diffuser now, I pulled my Arwing out of the water and flew low to the shore before landing on the beach.

The jungle was massive, and looked like it would swallow the shore and the ocean at any time. I powered down and sat back in my seat, collecting the nerve to leave the safety of the cockpit. I exhaled and popped the lid before jumping out onto the sand.

Going around to the rear, I opened a hatch and revealed some supplies I would need: A portable scanner and a blaster rifle most notably.

Strapping the scanner to my back, I took the rifle and proceeded, with a moment of hesitation, into the thick jungle. Every thirty or so steps, I stopped, set up the scanning device and let it run for about three minutes before packing it back up and pressing on deeper into the area. All the while, I was on edge, every sound made me jump and almost fire my weapon. I had to keep one eye on the scanner and the other on everything else. What was strange was that I encountered nothing at all but passive vegetation. There wasn't even evidence that there were dangerous lifeforms that had been in the area in the past. Normally, I would be relieved that there was nothing dangerous nearby, but this time it seemed off for some reason.

I'd say I got about a few miles in before I decided that there was nothing here and that I didn't want to push my luck any further than I already had. I thought I was thorough enough and did not fancy the idea of sticking around any longer to become the lunch of some plant creature. Packing up the scanner for the last time, I turned around and started slowly making my way back to my Arwing to return home.

* * *

 _ **Falco**_

 _Fox had been down on the planet for many, many hours at this point. We didn't have anything to do except wait for him to return either with findings of nothing or with something on his tail that would tell us he did find something. If that happened, we'd have to get the hell out of there fast._

 _I was down in the rec room, tinkering with one of the arcade machines that broke a while back, trying to see if I could get it working again, but I doubted I could, techie stuff wasn't really my thing. I just needed something to do at the time._

 _Slippy came in through the door just then, walking right up to the dispenser and pressing the button for a cup of some kind of hot tea. He took the canister and twisted it to start heating it up. I don't think he noticed me, probably because I was situated a little in the corner and was behind the machine I was working on. Glancing to my wrist clasp, I saw that it read that the time was 0000 hours. Midnight. I couldn't believe how late it was at the time._

" _I don't suppose you know how to get this thing working, do you?" I decided to ask and he jumped slightly, looking at me._

" _Oh, hey Falco. I didn't see you there." He responded before looking at the canister of coffee that was warming up, "Well, what's wrong with it?" He asked me, sitting down at a table nearby. Over the years, he stopped being young, just like all of us did. He was more...mellow now, I guess. I was always annoyed by his more...energetic attitude in the past, but at that moment, I missed it for some reason. I guess you could say that I was just missing the way things used to be as a whole, because I kinda did at the time, what with all the things bringing back the memories and all._

" _Hm, I don't know." I grunted out, poking at a few circuit boards in the machine with a screw driver, "At first I thought that it was a bad connection somewhere, but I can't find one. I don't really see anything else that could be wrong with it" . After that nothing else was said for a while as he set his drink down and got on his knees next to me to have a look himself._

" _...Do you think this plan was a good idea?" Slippy suddenly asked me after a few minutes._

 _Looking to him, I had to think for a moment before opening my mouth, "I think that-" I was interrupted by an alarm going off._

 _ **"** ** _WAR_ NING. REACTOR CORE TEMPERATURE HAS EXCEEDED TOLERABLE LEVELS. MELTDOWN IN PROGRESS. T-MINUS 60 MINUTES UNTIL MELTDOWN." **The system monitor computer bellowed out before the bulkhead of the Rec room entrance sealed, trapping us in here._

" _What the hell!?" I shouted, leaping to my feet as Slippy got up as well. I rushed to the bulkhead and tried to interface with the door controls to try and get it to open, but I couldn't, "What's going on?"_

 _Slippy ran over to the comms terminal and held down the button, "Hey, anybody? R.O.B? Samus? What's going on?" He shouted over the alarm._

" _...The primary reactor core's coolant system appears to be disengaged at the moment and is not working to keep it cool enough to function." R.O.B.'s voice replied eventually, "If the temperature continues to rise at this rate, the reactor will meltdown, and the Great Fox will be destroyed."_

" _Well, reengage the thing R.O.B.!" I shouted, "Before it kills us all."_

" _I'm sorry, but I cannot do that." R.O.B.'s response made a slight chill down my spine._

" _Wha-what? What do you mean you can't do it?" Slippy asked._

" _I am not allowed to." There was silence for a moment as it was beginning to sink in what was happening._

" _...Why has the bulkhead for the Rec Room sealed?" I asked._

" _I have sealed all of the bulkheads on the ship because I was instructed to do so."_

" _By who!?" I demanded._

" _..." There was no response and the channel was soon closed._

" _R.O.B. you sonova bitch! Open the damn bulkheads now!" I shouted angrily, slamming my fist on the terminal._

" _...I think I can try to bypass the door controls to get the bulkhead open." Slippy suddenly said, running over to the entrance and examining the door interface, "Lemme see that screw driver." He said and I saw I was still holding it and then tossed it to him._

 _Wedging the blade of the screwdriver under the interface panel he pried it off, showing the electronics underneath. Slippy then carefully seemed to examine it all before he started pulling at wires and making new connections._

 _ **"** **T-MINUS**_ **50 MINUTES UNTIL REACTOR MELTDOWN."**

 _Before he could finish though, what looked like a cutting torch flame suddenly started melting around the frame of the bulkhead. Soon the whole thing was cut out and the bulkhead fell away. In stepped Samus in her power suit, her arm cannon reverting back from some kind of blow torch setting, "Are you two alright?" She asked, her voice having a slight static tone to it due to her suit._

" _Yeah." We both answered in unison, "But we've got to get down to Engineering and engage the coolant system." I told her, "R.O.B.'s taken it down to destroy the ship for some reason."_

 _Samus just nodded, "Then let's go, there's not time to waist." She said, stepping out into the hall._

 _ **"T-MINUS 40 MINUTES UNTIL REACTOR MELTDOWN."**_

 _"But all of the bulkheads are sealed, you won't be able to cut through all of them in time to get to Engineering." Slippy said._

" _I don't plan to cut through them." Samus replied, "Just follow me, I'll get us there." She then faced the next bulkhead and took several steps back before running at it, some kind of aura enveloping her suit as she did so. She was suddenly running lightening fast and just...tore through the bulkhead, continuing down the hall and breaking through the others ahead._

" _Whoa." Slippy said, and we looked at each other before we started running after her._

 _ **"T-MINUS 30 MINUTES UNTIL REACTOR MELTDOWN."**_


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Fox _  
_I found it strange that I never even saaw a hint that would indicate the presence of the vicious wild life of this planet. I trekked for what must have been for several hours, easily three miles distance, into this dense jungle and never encountered anything besides the more docile flora around me. At any rate, I was glad that I didn't have to deal with that, but at the same time, I found it gave me a deep, foreboding sensation that I tried to ignore while I ventured back to the shore. I couldn't help but stay on my toes though.

I pulled back the last of the foliage between me and the beach to reveal an unpleasant surprise: My Arwing. Or to me more precise, the condition it was in. My vehicle, my only way off this planet, was gone. The only sign of it was the prints left in the sand where its landing feet were and the conspicuous trail that indicated that it was dragged away further down the beach to the south.

"No..." I whispered, glancing around the area before looking back to the beach. I noticed footprints all over the place, the footprints of bipedal creatures by the way they looked, "Damn it..." I knew then that I definitely wasn't alone. I wasn't sure if it was the Zebesians but I knew that a group of somebodies were down here and that they stole my way out of here, "...Alright, where did you take it?" I followed the trail in the sand, but was careful to not go out onto the beach and stayed hidden in the foliage as best as I could. I didn't know if whoever they were were watching and waiting for me to come back. I didn't know if they already had eyes on me though either…

I pressed my earpiece into my ear with a finger as I went, "Come in, Great Fox."  
I said, but got no response, "Great Fox, do you read?...ROB? Falco? Anyone? Are you there?" I let out a frustrated sigh. I assumed that I wasn't reaching them due to interference and kept moving. I wasn't sure what I was going to do at this point, all I had on my mind was to see where they took my Arwing.

After a while, the tracks lead sharply into the jungle and I started having a harder time following them but I managed. Eventually, I was lead to something strange: The tracks suddenly stopped. Disappeared. Confused, I knelt down to examine the end of the trail closely. And that's when I saw it, a shimmering in the air in front of me.

I stood up quickly and decided to test something out by kicking some of the soil on the ground forward. It went a short ways before it suddenly vanished, right at the point where the tracks suddenly stopped. Biting my lip, I stepped forward and reached my hand out. My hand was suddenly gone, but I could still feel it. Stepping into whatever this was revealed that I passed through what was some kind of cloaking field. There was a structure ahead of me that had a huge door covering its front. The tracks continued on towards that door.

There was a terminal next to the door that I started to make my way towards to see if I could find out more before I heard footsteps rapidly approaching. I turned to look but nothing was there, but the footsteps continued. I fired my blaster rifle at what seemed to be nothing and was suddenly taken down by an invisible force. I was pinned to the ground and I immediately felt a heavy blow to the side of my head and I blacked out. 

_Samus_

" _ **T-Minus 20 minutes until reactor meltdown. T-minus 10 minutes to evacuate to minimum safe distance."  
**_

 _Falco and Slippy caught up with me in the engineering reactor control room as I was trying to access one of the terminals. When they got there, I turned to them, "I can't get in, something's wrong with the terminals, they've been tampered with." I told them as Falco inspected one himself.  
_

 _Slippy's eyes lit up, "We can still try the main reactor computer. It's down in the reactor chamber." He said before running off to take the lift down from the control room, Falco and I following._

" _ **T-Minus 15 minutes until reactor meltdown. T-minus 5 minutes before meltdown can no longer be reversed."**_

 _I noticed when we got down there, that the reactor seemed oddly calm for being minutes away from self-destructing. I pushed that thought aside as we got to the main reactor computer Slippy talked about. Falco went up to it and logged in, only for Slippy to suddenly push him to the side and frantically start tapping keys on the terminal's keyboard, breathing heavily and sweat dripping from his forehead from what I guessed was the run down here._

" _...What the-?" Slippy suddenly said in surprise, leaning closer to the screen, "The reactor...it says it's fine!"_

" _ **T-minus 10 minutes until reactor meltdown. T-minus 5 minutes to reverse reaction."**_

 _"Then care to explain why the system says otherwise!?" Falco shouted._

" _I don't know!" Slippy said before he ran over to the reactor and pulled a maintenance panel off and began examining the internal systems, "Help me out here, maybe?!" he called and Falco ran over to him._

 _I went around the other side, looking at the reactor, feeling that something was off about all of this. I wasn't sure what I was looking for though..._

" _ **T-minus 5 minutes until reactor meltdown. The time to safely reverse reaction has expired."**_

" _NO!" I heard Slippy shout out._

" _Damn it! I'm not going to die on this hunk of junk!" I heard Falco next._

 _It was then I saw something odd. I wasn't sure what yet but I started climbing up the side of the reactor core to reach it._

" _ **T-minus 30 seconds until reactor meltdown."**_

 _I had reached it. It was some kind of device physically attached into an exposed conduit. I began messing with it, trying to figure out how to get it off._

" _ **T-minus 10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1…."** _

_I finally gave up and just grabbed the device and ripped it out of the conduit. And the count down, the alarms, everything stopped._

" _Whoa. What happened?" I heard Slippy say down below, "Everything just-ack!" He was suddenly cut off._

" _Hey! What's the big idea?" Falco suddenly shouted. I heard a shot go off and then the sounds of a scuffle and then a thud, "Arrgh! Get off me, jackass!"_

 _I jumped down and quickly ran back around the reactor to where the sounds were coming from, my arm cannon raised and ready to kill. I was met with four other individuals. Three males and a female. All each a different species of the Lylat system and equipped with rugged gear that would make them bounty hunters like me or mercenaries. I had never seen them before. One of the males, he looked like some sore of black feline, had Falco pinned to the floor as he struggled to get out from his hold. Another, a reptilian by his looks, had an arm around Slippy's neck and a blaster pressed to the side of his head._

" _Well, well, well. There she is. You were quite the elusive one, Samus Aran. But it was so much worth it to go through the trouble of tracking you down." What seemed to be the leader of the group, a gray canid, his left eye covered with some kind of eye patch. He and the other bluish canid both raised their weapons in response to me and the feline placed his own to Falco's head too._

" _Stand down, now." I ordered, charging up a shot._

" _No, you stand down. Or your friends here will die."_

" _Don't listen to 'em! Kick their asses!" Falco shouted, trying again to get the feline off of him._

 _This was a very bad situation, "What do you want?"_

" _All we want is you, Samus. Someone's placed a very, very pretty price on your head. Someone being your friends back in Galactic Federation space that is. Looks like you really pissed them off. They've got a very long list of charges against you." He said with a smile._

 _Just as I was dreading. The Federation is still looking for me. I imagine I could easily get out of this situation...but I wasn't going to risk and sacrifice Falco and Slippy's lives to avoid capture. I lowered my arm cannon, "I will go peacefully." I said, "So long as you do not hurt them."_

" _You have my word. All we want is you." he said, "Now, take off that armor." He instructed and I did as I was told, "On your knees." I got down and he then nodded to the blue one, "Go do your thing, Krystal."_

' _Krystal' as she was called then put away her weapon and walked over to me. She and behind me. She took my hands and I felt them bound behind my back. I didn't see what she did next but I felt something attach onto my back and then a sudden, sharp pain like pin pricks that dissipated as soon as it came. The power in my suit suddenly drained. I couldn't activate it anymore. "Alright. Get up." She then said, taking me by the arm to help pull me up before she gave me a small push to get me going._

" _Nicely done, Samus. Thank you for the cooperation." The leader sneered as he followed us out, "Before you know it, you'll be 'home' again in no time."_

" _...Don't count on it." I muttered in a low tone. As soon as I could, I would be making an escape attempt._

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

 _Author's Note:  
Well here it is! Chapter 10 just like I promised and just in time for the beginning of the holidays. I hope I haven't been keeping you waiting for too long those of you who have been waiting. I'll try to be a little faster for chapter 11 next time but I can't make any promises, sorry. Please review and tell me what you think. Feedback is invaluable to me. Thank you._


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